This interdisciplinary book explores both the connections and the tensions between sociological, psychological, and biological theories of exhaustion. It examines how the prevalence of exhaustion – both as an individual experience and as a broader socio-cultural phenomenon – is manifest in the epidemic rise of burnout, depression, and chronic fatigue. It provides innovative analyses of the complex interplay between the processes involved in the production of mental health diagnoses, socio-cultural transformations, and subjective illness experiences. Using many of the existing ideologically charged exhaustion theories as case studies, the authors investigate how individual discomfort and wider social dynamics are interrelated. Covering a broad range of topics, this book will appeal to those working in the fields of psychology, sociology, medicine, psychiatry, literature, and history.

Sighard Neckel is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Hamburg, Germany. He has published almost 180 articles and several academic volumes which cover a wide range of sociological topics in the fields of cultural sociology, social inequality, economic sociology, sociology of emotions, and social theory.

Anna Katharina Schaffner is Reader in Comparative Literature and Medical Humanities at the University of Kent, UK. She has published on the histories of exhaustion, sexology and psychoanalysis, Dada, the film director David Lynch, and various modern writers.

Greta Wagner is Research Associate at the Institute of Sociology at Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, Germany. She has published on strategies of self-optimisation, especially the self-medication with cognitive enhancing drugs, and on burnout.

“This book discusses different theories of exhaustion, from different disciplines such as biology, sociology, and psychology, and demonstrates its impact on medical and mental health. … This is an interesting book that examines exhaustion from a number of perspectives, presenting cross‐cultural studies and possible solutions. It will appeal to a wide audience in psychology, psychiatry, and sociology.” (Gary B. Kaniuk, Doody's Book Reviews, September, 2017)